GenDyn awarded $125M for MK80, BLU-109 bomb components

In addition to the U.S. military, the components are for foreign military sales to Iraq, Bahrain and Singapore.

By

Allen Cone

Munitions maintainers assemble BLU-109 munitions in the small bomb pad during the Combat Ammunitions Production Exercise on May 25, 2010, at Osan Air Base in South Korea. Photo by Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade/U.S. Air Force

April 18 (UPI) -- General Dynamics has received a $125 million contract for MK80 general purpose and BLU-109 Tritonal bomb components, including for Iraq, Bahrain and Singapore.

The contract is for domestic and foreign military sales, the Defense Department announced Wednesday.

Work completion is estimated by Oct. 31, 2023, with locations and funding to be performed with each order.

The U.S. Army's Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois supervises much of the U.S. military's conventional weapons production.

In December, General Dynamics received $264.8 million for MK80 and BLU-109 Tritonal bomb components.

The MK80 series of air-dropped, general purpose bombs is relatively light, ranging from 250 pounds to 2,000 pounds. They use many types of explosives, including the high-yield compound Tritonal. About 45 percent of the weight is explosives.

They were developed in the 1950s in response to the need for bombs producing less aerodynamic drag and were used extensively in the Vietnam War, according to the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation.

BLU is an acronym for bomb live unit, used by the U.S. Air Force as "bunker busters" for their ability to penetrate hardened structures before exploding.

The single-piece BLU-109 is 2,000 pounds with a hardened casing, that "provides our customer with a vital resource at a time of growing operational demands, eliminating the potential of a single-point production failure," according to General Dynamics.